For a
suggested donation of $2.00
or more we will send you approximately
30-50 milkweed seeds to start your butterfly garden.

All your donations and proceeds go to the supplies needed to help
schools create outdoor classrooms, namely butterfly gardens. These
gardens give students and parents a hands-on approach to the butterfly
lifecycle. In addition, we are in the process of creating a mobile
butterfly classroom/exhibit to be able to reach more students in an
efficient manner.

Building a butterfly garden as a
science project in school would be a great educational experience for
all ages. Students will use critical thinking skills, math skills
and science skills while building a butterfly garden. We dedicate time
to educate students about the importance and beauty of a butterfly
garden. These gardens can be a school wide project or an individual
classroom project. Regardless, everyone will enjoy and learn from
this project. Not only will the students and teachers, alike,
learn from this experience, they will admire the beauty of the garden
and the monarch butterflies that will be attracted. The most
important element in creating a successful butterfly garden is to
provide both, nectar and host plants.

Nectar plants provide food for the adult butterflies, and host plants
provide food for the caterpillars.

Some common nectar flowers
are Zinnias, Mexican Sunflowers, Lantana, Butterfly bush and Salvia.

Some common host plants are
Milkweed for Monarchs, Parsley for Painted Ladies and Anise for
Swallowtail butterflies.

A Little Information
about the Milkweed Plant

Milkweed plants usually grow about 2-6 feet in
height.

The leaves can grow from 2 to 10 inches long,
and the top of the leaf is smooth, while the bottom is hairy so that
the monarch butterflies can lay their eggs. These leaves contain
toxins- poisonous chemicals. These toxins don't hurt the caterpillar,
but they do make the caterpillar poisonous to most predators.

Because it eats milkweed leaves as a
caterpillar, the monarch butterfly is also poisonous.

The survival of the monarch butterfly depends on
this self-defense system provided by the milkweed.

The flowers on this plant are actually a bunch
of little flowers on the same stalk.

Milkweed is the only plant that the monarch
caterpillar can eat.

Did You Know???

·Sap from milkweed was used by pioneers as a cure for
warts?

·The airborne fluffy parachute of the seed was used by
Native Americans to insulate moccasins?

·The dried empty seed pods were used as Christmas tree
decorations by early pioneers?

·The boys and girls from Wisconsin schools collected
283,000 bags of milkweed fluff for use in military life jackets during
World War II?

·It is used as an indicator of ground-level ozone air
pollution?

If you are interested in
building your own butterfly garden, or would like to receive seeds
for a school project, please donate $2.00 or more (the more you donate, the more we can supply)
and we will send you seeds with instructions,
so that you can begin to plant your very own
Monarch Butterfly Garden.